"Hero" is a word that is thrown around all too often. People who rarely deserve the word have it thrust upon them, as if their relatively small deeds of little consequence were world-altering efforts that commanded such extremist acknowledgement. With that in mind, I feel the term hero is above my favourite feature writer. In saying that, if you read his features on a regular basis, you would be forgiven for thinking that the term is earned, as is his gift for dealing with the English language.
Hugh McIlvanney is probably the foremost opinion writer in football, with similar grandeur afforded him for his words on his other loves, boxing and horse-racing. What makes Hugh's work so loved is his inane ability to be as long-winded as possible while maintaining the focus of the reader. Hugh is long-winded even by Sunday Times standards. Although, while long-winded, his words never cross into the dreaded purple-prose phase that haunts so many of his pretenders.
Hugh's work has seen him receive many awards. In 1996 he was awarded the OBE, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 by The Scottish Press Awards and is the only sports writer to be voted their Journalist of the Year. He was also included in the 2005 Press Gazette Hall of Fame in 2005 and in 2009 he was even inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame - high praise indeed!
Perhaps my favourite piece by Hugh is due to my own personal feelings on the topic. As a massive football and Manchester United fan, Hugh was the man Alex Ferguson trusted to pen his autobiography, Managing My Life, in 1999. In their work, the two men built up a close friendship, stemming from all they had in common; both are Scottish, both are working class heroes (there is that word again!) and both have a great love for football, horse racing, boxing, expensive wine and reading the autobiographies of the leaders of men. When Ferguson retired in May 2013, Hugh penned a piece in the Irish Independent about Alex Ferguson. At this time there were inevitably thousands of pieces on the great manager and all that he had done in the game. This piece, however, was different. In the May 12 2013 edition of the Independent, Hugh penned a piece titled In football, he lived as few have ever lived. It was a glorious look at the man behind the statistics, an up-close examination of the human being behind the charade that is being a public figure. Ferguson no longer had to play the part anymore and Hugh gave us his thoughts, a highly respected man speaking of another highly respected man, one "hero" of his craft speaking so fondly of another.
What sets this piece apart for me, is how Hugh abandoned his typical writing style. There were few long-winded sentences, there was little rhetoric and there was almost no flirting with purple-prose. For this piece, his points were concise, the sentences brief and to the point. It is almost as if we are reading a personal letter from Hugh to Ferguson himself. Says Hugh of Ferguson; "Victory mattered most of all. In the chase for it, he has become a great
cultural figure in British life. David Cameron paid tribute to him last
week but he struck the wrong note, talking about his contribution to
British football when his contribution to public life was much greater
than Cameron's will ever be...During his time as a football manager, he lived as few men have ever lived." In that last sentence Hugh serves to reassure his friend that he has done alright with his time - a existentialist question that even the greatest manager of all time would have faced. As his friend, Hugh would have known that.
Most feature writers exist to give us an unorthodox view on an orthodox subject, this piece serves to give us a hitherto unseen light into Hugh McIlvanney the man, the friend. There is a real warmth in the piece and the most talented sports writer of our age, so used to writing matter-of-factly, suddenly shows us that he could just have easily have followed his brother into a fruitful career in fiction.
Great music always makes you think that you could have written it and the greatest novels always feel like they have come from your own imagination; as if you have contributed to their writing somehow. What struck me most about this particular piece was the fact that Hugh took every word right out of my own mouth. I have Alex Ferguson to thank for so many great moments of joy in my life and upon his retirement, if I was afforded the opportunity to meet the great man, I would have said everything to him that Hugh said. That is great feature writing.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/in-football-he-lived-as-few-have-ever-lived-29260093.html
No comments:
Post a Comment